GONE FISHING

Guy Lobjoit is a worried man. One of the owners of Guma Lagoon Camp in the Okavango Delta panhandle, Guy has spent most of his adult life introducing tourists and friends to the many natural splendours of this uniquely beautiful watery wonderland.

The Okavango is no place for the faint of heart. Dangerous animals large and small are constant companions. Medical help is uncertain and provisions difficult to obtain, transport and store in this hot remote African frontier.

But Guy and his wife Bev have built a life and family here, justifiably proud of the service they offer at Guma, passionate about what they do and the role they play in the conservation and awareness of this World Heritage Site.

Guy is also a renowned and avid angler.

Over the past decade, with the assistance of Airlink’s direct flights to Maun, we’ve visited the Okavango Delta many times to fish and enjoy the phenomenon of the annual barbel runs.

Like any natural event timing may vary, and some years are better than others, but we’ve experienced some of the most amazing catch and release angling anywhere in the world in this jewel of Africa.

The runs normally occur around October when the annual flood waters cascading from the highlands in Angola and wending their way through Namibia and into the otherwise arid north western reaches of Botswana start to recede off the floodplains, bringing with it an abundance of small baitfish on which the larger species feed.

But over the past two years

THE SAYING GOES NOT TO JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER, BUT AS BRAD CARTWRIGHT DISCOVERED, DON’T JUDGE THE HEALTH OF THE OKAVANGO BY THE OBVIOUS – LAND-LOCKED – WILDLIFE. THERE’S A PROBLEM BELOW THE WATER’S SURFACE.

things have changed dramatically. The schooling barbel themselves are very much smaller than ever before and species like the beautiful nembwe have completely disappeared from the system. Other bream species and the tiger fish we love to catch and release have seen a radical decline in numbers and a change in behavioural patterns.

What has caused this sudden change? Well the answer is no-one knows.

Theories and rumours are plentiful, but really no more than speculation. Netting is often blamed, but this practice has been going on for decades and could certainly not have wiped out an entire species in this short period of time.

Water levels is another possibility, but these have fluctuated for aeons without the apparent damage we are seeing now.

What needs to happen is an urgent scientific study on salinity, pH levels and testing of the water for contaminants poisonous to

The fish that swim below the surface of the water are largely taken for granted or simply not considered at all.

RIGHT: Guy Lobjoit of Guma Lagoon Camp. TOP RIGHT: An idyllic setting for anglers – the allegedly abundant waters of the Okavanga.

A WORRIED MAN

fish. Guy has been trying, with the voluntary help of other concerned parties, to institute this, but a project of this magnitude requires government intervention and assistance. Given that this area is a World Heritage Site one would assume international assistance would also be a possibility.

In the short time we were there our crews covered over 200km of the panhandle searching for barbel runs. Those we found seemed to be juvenile fish acting on instinct rather than the normal feeding frenzy and in most instances the other species that normally accompany the runs were absent, barring one or two small tigers in the general area.

The one exception occurred on our last morning when Guy and I found runs closer to Guma which had attracted a fair number of the vicious tigers. Over a period of about two hours our poppers and stick baits were attacked again and again, with the normal low hook-up rate on surface lures, but still a fairly impressive number of fish were landed and returned. On previous trips the average size of tiger fish patrolling the runs and getting to the lures first would have been between three and four kilograms: this time the largest fish landed was 2,7kg with the average less than one kilogram.

The bream species were also very skittish compared to previous years, but we didn’t put in as many hours hunting for them as we did the tigers. Guy, however, is adamant their numbers have dwindled alarmingly as well.

Unlike the spectacular bird and animal life in the Okavango, which are a visual and constant reminder

of the heritage and beauty of Africa, the fish that swim below the surface of the water are largely taken for granted or simply not considered at all. Yet without a viable underwater habitat the whole food chain might break down endangering one of the most exceptional tourism destinations on the planet, as well as the rare and endangered species that thrive there.

Guy is right to be worried, as should we all.

MIDDLE: Guma Lagoon Camp makes the most of its watery location in the Okavango Delta. ABOVE: Open wide! Although barbel were hooked, they tended to be juvenile...much like the angler posing with his catch!